Le Petit Lieutenant

last updated 8 January 2015

French director Xavier Beauvois 'œseems hellbent on making the most realistic cop film of all time,' said Michael Atkinson in The Village Voice. The Paris homicide bureau is all coffee, cigarettes, and small talk, according to this police procedural, which builds a story out of seemingly disconnected parts. Actress Nathalie Baye won a CÃ©sar—a French Oscar—for her performance as a jaded supercop who's back on the beat after a bout of alcoholism. She takes a liking to a new recruit named Antoine, guarding him with a combination of motherly and romantic affection. Plot points are sprinkled lightly over the first half of the film, which consists largely of 'œexistential musing,' said Sheri Linden in The Hollywood Reporter. When the first consequential dead body arrives, Antoine views it philosophically, wondering openly how all those organs combine to make a human with the ability to compose beautiful music. In such scenes, the 'œemotional impact quietly accumulates.' If you're expecting CSI: Paris, you'll no doubt be disappointed, said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. But if you allow this gentle drama to lie in wait until its blowout finale, it's quite a satisfying picture. The 'œfinal minute of the movie is one of the most bleak, and moving, endings I've seen in years.'

Rating: Not Rated